Drowned boater was Grafton man

LORAIN — Authorities have identified the local boater who died after being found Sunday in Lake Erie as a Grafton man. Ronald M. Shinn, 51, of Grafton, apparently died of natural causes after being pulled unconscious from the water, about 500 yards from his boat, according to county Coroner Paul Matus. The Lorain Coast Guard responded to Shinn’s 23-foot-fishing boat shortly after 5 p.m. Sunday when another boater noticed it abandoned and drifting off the coast of Lorain. As the Coast Guard was investigating, they received another call from a boater who had come across a man in distress floating in the water just west of the abandoned boat’s location, Petty Officer Jason Blackmon said. Shinn had been wearing a personal flotation device, but he was unconscious when he was pulled aboard. The Coast Guard performed CPR on him, and an ambulance took him to CHP Regional Medical Center in Lorain, where he was pronounced dead at 5:50 p.m. Jim Gorman, an investigator for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Watercraft, said Shinn was an avid fisherman and often went out on the water by himself. Although he wasn’t a swimmer, Gorman said, Shinn always wore a Coast Guard-approved personal flotation device that he manually triggered to float when he fell into the water. No foul play was suspected in the incident and Gorman suspects that Shinn possibly fell overboard as a result of the 2-to-3-foot waves. A toxicology test was ordered and would be available by the end of the week, Matus said. Shinn was employed by MTS Systems Corp. as a field service engineer, and he was a graduate of Strongsville High School. Contact Stephen Szucs at 329-7129 or sszucs@chroniclet.com.